For a collective media wrapped up in the notion that gay marriage would take the General Assembly away from “real work” at the Statehouse, the Buck Creek Republican chided, they seemed all-consumed by the slicing and dicing of every nuance of the constitutional amendment.

“How about some attention to the rest of what we’re doing down here — some ‘real work,’ as you say?” Hershman asked. For example, how about some serious attention for Senate Bill 1, one of two proposals to cut business personal property taxes in Indiana?

Hershman’s beef at that time wasn’t about a total disregard of public eyes and consideration. He was talking about confusion between the stated desire to eventually ditch the entire tax on business equipment — a proposition that would include more than $1 billion — and his smaller, more focused effort intended to wipe out the filing headaches for small businesses with less than $25,000 in equipment to claim, along with a general reduction in the rate.

The differences are substantial, with SB 1 clocking in at an estimated $54.4 million. But Hershman said his work was getting tangled in claims of devastation to local government left holding the bag without easy ways to offset a massive drop in revenue under the plan favored by Gov. Mike Pence.

“There’s a method to the madness,” Hershman said of his more measured approach. “It’s not just a corporate giveaway. It’s a matter of bang for the buck. … This will bring jobs to Indiana. I’m sure of it.”

Distracted or not, mayors and other local government leaders from across the state were looking at the business tax message being telegraphed by the Statehouse, whether in the Hershman bill or in the one of Pence’s dreams. Either way, neither comes with ready replacement of funds — other than, of course, toughing it.

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This week, a contingent of Indiana mayors — already facing the fresh realities of constitutional property tax caps that keep their revenues and services in check — got their collective act together, prying something out of Pence that he hasn’t been eager to offer. Pence acknowledged that any state cut in the business personal property tax should come with a state replacement of revenues that would have gone to cities, counties, schools and towns.

It was a big moment for governor and everyone involved — even if Pence’s new promise comes with no actual details.

How big?

Consider an episode from last week, when the media ranks somehow broke the bonds of distraction long enough to press Pence on a single question in his repeated push for the elimination of the business tax.

Indianapolis Star reporter Tony Cook did a tremendous public service when he peeled back the process of trying to extract information from Pence when the governor isn’t ready to share or simply doesn’t know the answer. (I’ll post a link with this column at jconline.com; you decide which was the case in this situation.)

In a piece that appeared Sunday, Cook set the plot: “Pence has a penchant for saying that he doesn’t want the phaseout to ‘unduly harm’ local government. Here’s how reporters tried — and tried — to pin him down on what precisely ‘unduly harm’ means.”

Cook transcribed how five reporters tag-teamed the governor. Each time, Pence settled deeper into some version of this: “Any reform of the business personal property tax can’t shift business tax to hardworking Hoosiers and cannot result in unduly burdening local governments.”

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What, they asked, does that mean? Why not speak in more detail?

“Now, I know you all want me to talk about detail, I know that, OK?” Pence said. “I don’t want to negotiate this in public.”

That sort of vague dance scares cities, towns and counties. And it should in places already pressed by property tax caps and looking to disguise the bill for basic services in the form of fees. (Consider the debate in April 2013 in West Lafayette over increased trash fees. “Let’s be clear. This is a tax increase,” city council member Peter Bunder said as he voted no. “Cities are left with few options to raise revenue, and raising fees is one of the ways cities can do that.”)

At the Statehouse, the mayors’ talk about parks and trash service and police patrols was no joke.

Does Hershman’s bill make sense? More sense, certainly, than Pence’s blanket statements. Still, don’t count on the locals to be distracted for long when Statehouse tax reform comes from anyone who has a tough time defining “unduly harm” the first time.